Chapter Three
Chapter Three
3
CHAPTER THREE
Managing Groups
Objectives
This chapter covers the following Microsoft-specified objectives for the “Managing Users,
Computers, and Groups” section of the Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows
Server 2003 Environment exam:
Reproduced from the book MCSA/MCSE 70-290 Exam Prep: Managing and Maintaining
a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment, 2nd Edition. Copyright 2007, Exam
Cram. Reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., 800 East 96th Street,
Indianapolis, IN 46240. Written permission from Pearson Education, Inc. is required for all
other uses.
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Outline
Introduction 126 Chapter Summary 153
Key Terms 153
Creating and Managing Groups 126
The Four Domain Functional Levels 127 Apply Your Knowledge 153
The Three Forest Functional Levels 128
Group Type 129
Group Scope 129
Domain Local Groups 131
Global Groups 132
Universal Groups 132
Recommended Sequence of Groups 133
Default Groups 134
Default Groups on Member Servers 134
Default Groups in Active Directory 136
System Groups 137
Creating and Modifying Groups by
Using the Active Directory Users
and Computers Console 138
Identifying and Modifying the Scope
of a Group 142
Managing Group Membership 144
Adding Accounts to Groups with
Command-Line Tools 146
Finding Domain Groups in Which a
User Is a Member 148
Creating and Modifying Groups by
Using Automation 149
Assigning Groups 151
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Study Strategies
. In studying this section, be sure to practice all the activities described. Become very
familiar with Active Directory Users and Computers and creating groups.
. Examine the use of the default groups. Know their capabilities and limitations.
. You will need access to a Windows Server 2003 domain controller. Many of the tools are
new, or they differ from those available in Windows 2000, so don’t try to get by with a
Windows 2000 domain controller.
. Memorize the AGDLP acronym and what it means. It is a best practice that will serve you
well, both on the exam and on the job.
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Introduction
This chapter continues your study of some of the common daily duties of a Windows Server
2003 administrator. You can rest assured that you will perform the tasks you learn in this chap-
ter very often. This chapter discusses creating and managing group accounts, including what
type of group to use for particular situations. An especially important topic is group scope, as
well as how it is affected by domain functional level. We’ll be starting with creating and man-
aging groups. Let’s get to it!
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NOTE
Active Directory Functional Levels In fact, several capabilities are available only in the Windows Server
2003 functional level, including improved Active Directory replication and schema handling. For the exam,
we’re interested only in the effect the domain functionality level has on groups.
. Windows 2000 mixed—The default level in Windows Server 2003, this level is equivalent
to mixed mode in Windows 2000. At this level, a domain can contain domain controllers
on computers running Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows Server 2003. This
flexibility comes with a price, as you’ll see, because at this level you cannot use the
enhanced group features available in either Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003.
. Windows 2000 native—After you have removed all Windows NT domain controllers
from the domain, you can increase the domain functionality level to Windows 2000
native. At the Windows 2000 native level, you get the improved group capabilities of
Active Directory as delivered in Windows 2000, such as the capability to “nest” groups
and the availability of groups of Universal scope.
. Windows Server 2003 interim—Both Windows NT and Windows Server 2003 domain
controllers can exist in a domain at this level. As with the Windows 2000 mixed level,
enhanced group functionality cannot be used.
. Windows Server 2003—Only domains that have no Windows 2000 or Windows NT
domain controllers can be raised to this level of domain functionality. This is the most
advanced level of domain functionality. Although important enhancements are achieved
in upgrading from Windows 2000 to Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, there are
no significant differences in group functionality between the two levels.
Figure 3.1 shows raising the domain functional level using the Active Directory Users and
Computers Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
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CAUTION
Raising Functional Levels This step is not reversible, so it should be initiated on a production network
only by an experienced network administrator.
EXAM ALERT
Expect Functional Level Questions Expect several exam questions that deal with the topic of the dif-
ferent features enabled at different functional levels.
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enhanced group functionality cannot be used. This level is the default when upgrading
from Windows NT 4.0.
. Windows Server 2003 forest—Only forests that have no Windows 2000 or Windows NT
domain controllers can be raised to this level of forest functionality. This level enables
support for groups containing more than 5,000 members.
Figure 3.2 shows raising the forest functional level using the Active Directory Domains and
Trusts MMC.
Group Type
The two types of groups are distribution groups, which are used only for email lists, and securi-
ty groups, which can be used both for email distribution and resource access. You choose the
type depending on the reason you are creating the group:
. Distribution Groups—Used for email distribution lists only. Cannot be assigned permis-
sions to use resources.
. Security Groups—Used both for assignment of permissions to use resources and for
email distribution.
Group Scope
Objective:
Identify and modify the scope of a group
The second way of classifying a group is by defining its scope. Group scope means determining
where the group members and the resources that the group can be granted access permissions
to reside. Table 3.1 lists the scope of the group object in the first column (domain local, Global,
and Universal); in the second column, the object types that can be members of this kind of
group; in the third column, the locations of the resources that a group can be given access to.
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Note that in several cases, the characteristics of the group object differ depending on the func-
tionality of the domain.
How would you choose the scope of a group you need to create? Let’s talk about each scope
in turn.
EXAM ALERT
Understand Groups and Scope Expect at least one exam question that deals with the scope of groups
in Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has always tested heavily on the different types of groups and their
scope. This exam will probably not be any different.
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NOTE
Scope of Trusts A domain trusts all other domains in its forest and any other domains that the adminis-
trator has explicitly set the domain to trust. Trusts are covered on the 70-294 exam.
If the domain is at the Windows 2000 native functional level or the Windows Server 2003
functional level, the new group can also have other domain local group accounts among its
members. The capability to make a group a member of another group of the same type is
called nesting.
NOTE
Nesting Groups The capability to nest groups is very useful in administration. With nesting, you
could define a DL-PhoenixUsers group, whose members are groups called DL-PhoenixPersonnel,
DL-PhoenixEngineers, and DL-PhoenixHR. You would make the user accounts members of the
departmental groups, with no need to also make them members of the city group.
We have just listed the types of objects that can be members of our new domain local group,
but what types are we likely to use? Typically, the member list of a domain local group includes
an administrator account and one or more global group accounts. More rarely, you may also
see universal group accounts in the domain local group member list.
NOTE
Local Versus Domain Local It’s easy to confuse domain local groups with local groups. Local groups
are the groups that are resident on a server and have no visibility in the domain. Although they can be
used to grant access to resources on that server, you will have to log on or connect to that server to work
with them. Domain local groups are stored and managed by Active Directory; therefore, they are visible
throughout the domain. However, they are not visible in other domains. We discuss local groups in the
upcoming section, “Default Groups.”
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Global Groups
A global group is used to collect user accounts, typically according to the function the members
perform in their work. Therefore, their names reference the accounts that are on the group
member list—typical global group names are G-PhoenixEngineers and G-KansasCityHR.
Only accounts in the same domain as the group object can be members of the global group.
The reason the group is called “global” is that the group can be assigned access to any resource
or made a member of any domain local group in the entire forest.
Identifying Groups
You’ve probably noticed that we’ve been prefixing group names with “DL-” or “G-.” This is a shorthand
way of identifying the group type, so that we know what the scope of the group is at a glance. For the
short scenarios we cover in this book, it’s probably not necessary, but in the real world, it can save a lot
of time, especially when troubleshooting a permissions problem. Will you remember the type of a group
you or your co-workers created six months ago?
If the domain is at the Windows 2000 native functional level or the Windows Server 2003
functional level, the new group can also have other global group accounts from its domain
among its members.
A good example of the use of global groups is when users are disbursed and resources exist in
few domains. For example, an engineering company has engineers in its Kansas City, Phoenix,
and Chicago offices. Each location hosts its own domain in a Windows Server 2003 Active
Directory forest. All engineering resources are located in the Phoenix domain. Each domain
administrator places his engineers in an “engineers” Global group for his domain. The
Phoenix domain administrator creates the EngRes domain local group and assigns the select-
ed permissions to that group. He then places each Engineers Global group from each domain
into the EngRes group. The Phoenix administrator relies on the other administrators to deter-
mine who in their respective domains is allowed access to the resources.
Universal Groups
A universal group, as its name implies, has no limitations as to where its members are located,
or in what domains it can be granted resource access. Its members can come from any trusted
domain, and it can be a member of any group or be granted access to resources in any trusted
domain. These qualities make the group type seem ideal: no worrying about whether the
source of members is all right or whether the group can be assigned access in another domain.
There is a cost to this universality, however: The list of members of a universal group is kept
in the Global Catalog (GC) and therefore is replicated to all domain controllers designated as
Global Catalog servers in the forest. However, the new link-value replication feature in
Windows Server 2003 reduces the amount of replication traffic significantly, compared to
Windows 2000, where the entire universal group membership list was replicated whenever a
change was made.
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NOTE
Global Catalog The Global Catalog of a forest is a directory that contains a subset of each of the objects
in every domain of the forest, though only some of the properties of each object. Although the main pur-
pose of the Global Catalog is to provide an index for forestwide searches, it is also used during authentica-
tion (the process of ensuring that an object has the right to access the resources it is requesting) to get
the list of all the groups a user object is a member of.
Universal groups are useful when users and resources are disbursed in all domains. For exam-
ple, when every domain has EngRes and Engineer Global groups, this might not be bad dur-
ing the initial setup, but it becomes a nightmare as new domains are added. The Universal
groups make it easier, in that each domain’s Engineers Global group gets added to the
Engineers Universal group, and the Engineers Universal group is added to each domain’s
EngRes domain local group. As new domains come online, they only have to add their
Engineers Global group to the Engineers Universal group, and the Engineers Universal group
to the domain local group that they have assigned permissions for the shared resources to.
In some cases it is helpful to make global groups members of universal groups and then to
make the universal groups members of domain local groups. This is necessary only when a uni-
versal group is needed—that is, when a group will have members from multiple domains and
will need access to resources in multiple domains.
This sequence is known as AGUDLP, which stands for Accounts, Global, Universal, domain
local, and Permissions. This is the sequence that you will use when you have multiple domains
or are planning to have multiple domains in the future. If you are going to have only a single
domain, the recommended sequence is AGDLP, which stands for Accounts, Global, Domain
Local, and Permissions.
Here’s the hierarchy, then: Suppose we have three domains (Trainers, Writers, and
Consultants), and there is a global group in each domain that holds all the finance mangers in
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Default Groups
In the previous chapter we discussed the various default users that are created on a Windows
Server 2003 server. In addition to these user accounts, a number of default groups are created.
There are different groups created, depending on whether the server is a member server or a
domain controller.
These groups are preconfigured with a specific set of permissions that determine what access
the users they contain are granted for a variety of resources.
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. DHCP Users—Members of this group can view the configuration of the DHCP server
service. However, they cannot change the configuration. This group is present only if
the DHCP role has been added to the server.
. Guests—Members of this group have limited access to the server. The Guest account is
a member of this group.
. HelpServicesGroup—This group can be used to grant permissions to application support
accounts. The default member of this group is the account used for the Remote
Assistance feature.
. Network Configuration Operators—Members of this group have full control over the
TCP/IP configuration.
. Performance Monitor Users—Members of this group can monitor the Performance
Counters on the server, either locally or remotely. They cannot configure the perform-
ance counters.
. Performance Log Users—Members of this group can manage the configuration of the
performance Counters on the server, either locally or remotely.
. Power Users—This group can be used to create and modify users and groups. They can
also delete users and groups, but only those that they created. In addition, they can add
users to the Power Users, Users and Guests groups, but can remove only those that
they have added. They can also share resources, but can manage only those that they
have created.
. Print Operators—Members of this group can manage printers and print queues.
. Remote Desktop Users—Members of this group can remotely log on to the server.
. Replicator—Members of this group are used to logon to the replicator service. This is
more of a service account and not a user account.
. Terminal Server Users—This group contains the accounts of users who are currently
logged on to the server remotely via Terminal Services. The default permissions
assigned to this group should be sufficient for most applications.
. Users—Members of this group can perform common tasks on the server. If in a
domain, the Domain Users group is automatically made a member of this group,
allowing all users in the domain access to this server.
. WINS Users—Members of this group can view the configuration of the WINS server
service. However, they cannot change the configuration. This group is present only if
the WINS role has been added to the server.
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. Cert Publishers—Members of this group have the capability to publish security certifi-
cates in Active Directory.
. Group Policy Creators—Members of this group can modify Group Policy.
. HelpServicesGroup—This group can be used to grant permissions to application support
accounts. The default member of this group is the account used for the Remote
Assistance feature.
. Incoming Forest Trust Builders—This group is present only in the root domain in the
forest. Members of this group can create one-way incoming forest trusts, but only in
the forest root domain.
. Pre–Windows 2000 Compatible Access—This group has read access to all users and
groups in the domain. The Everyone group is automatically added to this group. This
group is to provide backward compatibility for computers running Windows NT 4.0.
. Print Operators—Members of this group can manage printers and print queues.
. RAS and IAS Servers—Members of this group are permitted access to the remote access
properties of users in the Active Directory.
. Server Operators—This group can be used to manage domain controllers.
. Terminal Service License Servers—Members of this group distribute licenses to Terminal
Services users.
EXAM ALERT
Be Sure You Know What Groups Are Built in and Their Capabilities Expect to see a few questions
relating to membership of the built-in groups, especially those at the domain level.
When assigning users to the default groups, make sure that you understand exactly what access
they are being given. It is usually not a good idea to assign or remove specific rights to or from
a default group. It is better to create a new group and add the custom rights to it.
System Groups
The last set of default groups are System Groups. System Groups are automatically created by
the operating system, but unlike the other default groups, you cannot change or manage them.
In most cases, the membership of a system group is changed dynamically by the operating sys-
tem. They are listed here:
. Anonymous Logon—This group is used to represent any users or services that access a
computer over the network without a username or password. Unlike in Windows NT,
the Anonymous Logon group is not a member of the Everyone group.
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. Everyone—This group is used to represent all users or services, including those from
other domains. You can grant permissions to the Everyone group, but it’s not a good
idea for anything other than read-only, because the Anonymous Logon group can
become a member of the everyone group.
. Network—This group is used to represent all users accessing a specific resource over
the network. The user is added to this group automatically.
. Interactive—This group is used to represent all users logged on locally to a computer.
The user is added to this group automatically.
STEP BY STEP
3.1 Creating groups with domain local, global, and universal scope
1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers and select the Phoenix OU.
4. When the dialog box opens, ensure that the domain local and Security option buttons are selected, and
then type the name DL-FinanceResources (see Figure 3.3).
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6. Right-click the Users OU again and select New, Group from the context menu.
7. This time, ensure the Global and Security option buttons are selected, and then type the name
G-FinanceManagers and click OK.
8. Right-click the LTI OU a third time and select New, Group from the context menu.
9. This time, ensure that the Universal and Security option buttons are selected and then type the name
U-FinanceManagers and click OK. Now we have our three groups—and in production we would
create several others (see Figure 3.4).
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10. Now we want to make G-FinanceManagers a member of U-FinanceManagers, and we want to make
U-FinanceManagers a member of DL-FinanceResources.
11. Right-click the U-FinanceManagers object and choose Properties. Select the Members tab.
12. Click Add. In the Select Users, Contacts, Computers or Groups dialog box (in the Enter the Object
Names to Select area), type G and click Check Names. A dialog box appears listing all the users, con-
tacts, computers, or groups whose names start with G (see Figure 3.5).
14. Now click the Member Of tab. Select Add, type DL into the Enter Object Names to Select area, and click
Check Names. Select DL-FinanceResources and click OK twice.
15. We now want to create the \\MARS\Finance share and give DL-FinanceResources access rights to it.
To do this, start the Share a Folder Wizard by clicking Add Shared Folder from the Manage Your Server
application, as shown in Figure 3.6.
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16. After selecting the folder to be shared, naming the share Finance, and assigning a share name,
choose Use Custom Share and Folder Permissions, and in the dialog box click Add and browse to the
DL-FinanceResources group. Assign the group Full Control rights, remove the Everyone group from
the list, and click OK.
NOTE
Add Shared Folders The Add Shared Folders option will appear on the main screen of the Manage Your
Server application only if you have added the File Server role to your server, as we did in Chapter 1,
“Windows Server 2003 Environment.”
We have accomplished our task. Any member of the G-FinanceManagers global group will
have the correct access to the \\MARS\Finance share.
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NOTE
Changing Group Scope Note that it is not possible to directly change a domain local group to a global
group, or vice versa. However, you can change a global group to a universal group and then change it to a
domain local group.
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To change a group’s scope with Active Directory Users and Computers, first you have to select
the group and look at its properties. Click the option button beside the new scope and click
OK to change the scope. If you have followed group naming conventions that indicate the
scope of the group, you will probably want to rename the group to show the new scope.
To determine the scope of a group object from the command line, you can use dsget. This
command shows the description of a group, whether its type is security, and its scope:
dsget group <dn> [-desc] [-secgrp] [-scope]
To change a group’s scope from the command line, you can use dsmod. Its syntax in this case
is very simple; you just type the following:
dsmod group <dn> -scope <L, G, or U>
You must be a member of Domain Admins, Enterprise Admins, or Account Operators, or you
have to have been delegated the appropriate authority to change the scope of a group by either
method.
Challenge
You are a system administrator who is responsible for managing all the computer resources for your
company. Your company has decided, for security reasons, to separate the Human Resources users and
resources into a separate domain. However, there is a color printer in the original domain that the Human
Resources department will need to use occasionally. The users in the current domain have been granted
access to the printer by being members of a global group contained in a domain local group that has
print permission. Both domains are running at the Windows Server 2003 functional level.
Your task is to configure the permissions for this printer so that everyone who needs access to it can
print.
Try to complete this exercise on your own, listing your conclusions on a sheet of paper. After you have
completed the exercise, compare your results to those given here.
1. Because there are now two separate domains, you will need to assign permissions to groups from
both domains to this printer. Create a global group in the Human Resources domain who need
access to this printer. Then place the Human Resources global group in the domain local group.
2. You could place all the users from both domains in a universal group and make the universal group
a member of the domain local group.
3. You could create a global group in the Human Resources domain containing the users in that
domain who need access to this printer. Place both global groups in a universal group, and make the
universal group a member of the domain local group. This method adheres to the AGUDLP strategy.
You could also assign print permissions to a universal group and add members from both domains to it.
Basically, there is no right answer to this challenge, as there are a multiple of ways to accomplish this goal.
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There are several methods for changing the group membership, both from Active Directory
Users and Computers and from the command line.
In Active Directory Users and Computers, you can use the Member Of tab of the account to
see the list of groups the account belongs to, or you can use the Members tab of the group to
see the list of members.
Let’s look at the Member Of method first. Choose the properties of a user, group, or comput-
er object in Active Directory Users and Computers, and then click the Member Of tab. A list
of group objects is displayed. Click Add and use the Object Picker to locate the group or
groups you want the account to be a member of. Click OK, and the Member Of list is updat-
ed, as shown in Figure 3.7.
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Creating and Managing Groups
Another way to use Active Directory Users and Computers to add accounts to a group is to
select multiple accounts and then choose File, Properties, and click the Member Of tab. With
the Object Picker, find the group whose member list you want to add the accounts to, select
it, and select OK. Alternatively, you can right-click the objects and choose Add to a Group
from the shortcut menu.
Now let’s try starting from the group object. Display its properties and choose Members. Use
the Object Picker again, but this time the goal is to find the accounts that should be added to
the member list of the group. Select the objects and click Add.
A third method (but not recommended) is to select the accounts you want to add to a group’s
member list and then drag them to the group object. Dropping the accounts on the group
object adds them to the member list. This method is not recommended because it is too easy
to drop the accounts on the wrong group object.
There are two ways to allocate users to groups. You can either open the Membership proper-
ty of a group and add users to it, or you can open the Member Of property of a user and select
the groups to which that user will belong. Step by Step 3.2 shows you how to make a user a
member of a group.
STEP BY STEP
3.2 Adding a member to a group
1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, navigate to a user account object and open its properties.
2. Select the Member Of tab and view the existing memberships. By default, new users created in a
domain are only members of the Domain Users group, as shown in Figure 3.8.
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3. Click the Add button to bring up the Select Groups dialog box. Type the name of the group and then
click the Check Names button. Figure 3.9 shows the results of typing Engineers and then selecting
Check Names.
4. Click OK to complete the addition of the Engineers group to the user account and to see the new list of
groups to which the user belongs.
NOTE
New and Improved This is the first time we’ve used the new-and-improved Object Picker. In Figure 3.9,
we could have typed Eng and clicked the Check Names button to find the Engineers group. We could have
also selected the Advanced button and typed Art into the Name Starts With field and found both Arthur
Lismer and Arthur Adams. Take a few minutes to play with the new Object Picker.
Note that dsmod group has two similar-looking parameters that can be used to alter the mem-
bership list of a group. As you can see from Table 3.2, -chmbr and -addmbr both change the
membership list, but with quite different results.
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dsmod with the –addmbr parameter adds the account to the member list of the group, where-
as the –chmbr parameter replaces the current member list with the accounts following –chmbr.
And dsmod group with the –rmmbr parameter removes the accounts listed from the group’s
member list.
You’re probably expecting to find that there is a command-line method for adding a member
to a group using dsmod user. There isn’t! In the Active Directory Users and Computers inter-
face you cannot tell whether the group membership information is a property of the user
object or the group object. But because dsmod allows only group membership changes with
dsmod group, it is clear that the membership information belongs to the group object.
NOTE
Group Membership Changes As in all previous versions of the Windows server products, the group
membership information is rebuilt when the user logs on. After you have changed group membership for
users, be sure to tell them to log off and on again to see the effect of the group membership change.
. A member server in a domain may need a group account to provide access to the resources on that
computer.
. You might need to share a printer installed on a standalone server, and you want to create a local group
account to permit this.
. You have a computer running Windows Server 2003 that is not part of a domain, and you want to
define users and groups to allow access to its resources.
These tasks are performed using Local Users and Groups in Computer Management or with the net
localgroup command. After the users and groups have been created, you can grant them rights to
access resources on the computer.
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To find all the groups the user belongs to, including those due to group nesting, use the fol-
lowing dsget command:
dsget user <dn> –memberof –expand
In Figure 3.10, you can see the output of these two commands for the same user.
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Do you remember the discussion of piping earlier in this chapter? We can pipe the output of
one command to another command, which will allow us to avoid having to know the distin-
guished name of an account in memberof queries. Look at Figure 3.11.
As you can see from the figure, it was sufficient to enter Bill* to select the one user whose
group memberships are wanted.
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STEP BY STEP
3.3 Creating group accounts
1. Open a command prompt and change to the root of the C: drive.
2. Type the following command:
ldifde -f ldifgroupout.txt -d “OU=KansasCity,DC=70-290,
➥DC=int” -l objectclass,cn,distinguishedname,name,
➥samaccountname -r “(objectclass=group)”
This command will change the OU’s distinguished name appropriately, if necessary, and list the group
names in the ldifgroupout.txt file.
-j c:\ puts a log file called ldif.log on c:\, and -k tells ldifde to continue in case of errors.
You should see the message 2 entries modified successfully.
8. In Notepad, create a file called ldifgroupin2.txt to change the member list of the KansasCity
Users group, with the following content (note that ldifde can replace only the complete member list
of a group, so you have to include all members in this file):
dn: CN=KansasCity Users,OU=KansasCity,DC=70-290,DC=int
changetype: modify
replace: member
member: CN=Sales,OU=KansasCity,DC=70-290,
➥DC=intmember: CN=Engineers,OU=KansasCity,
➥DC=70-290,DC=intmember:CN=Marketing,OU=KansasCity,
➥DC=70-290,DC=int
➥member: CN=Production,OU=KansasCity,DC=70-290,DC=int
-
10. In Active Directory Users and Computers, view the group objects in the KansasCity OU to see that the
Marketing and Production groups have been created and that the four groups listed in
ldifgroupin2.txt are shown as members of the KansasCity OU.
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Creating and Managing Groups
A second method of creating groups via the command line is by using the dsadd command.
We used dsadd in the previous chapter to create users, and the operation is very similar.
To learn about the use of the group subcommands for dsadd, enter the following at the com-
mand prompt:
dsadd group /?
The dsadd group command can take several parameters, including group scope, group type,
members, and member of, but the only required parameter is the DN (distinguished name).
For example, to create a domain local security group named DL-Engineers in the Kansas City
OU, you would enter the following command:
Dsadd group “CN=DL-Engineers,OU=Kansas City,DC=70-290,DC=local”
➥–secgrp yes –scope l
NOTE
dsadd For a quick review of some of the other capabilities of the dsadd command, refer to the section
“Creating Accounts with dsadd” in Chapter 2.
Assigning Groups
In Windows Server 2003, you have the capability to assign a domain user as the manager of
the group. This has the following advantages:
. Assigns a contact for the group—This gives the administrator a designated person to con-
tact if there are any questions about the group membership.
. Delegation—This allows the administrator to designate a domain user to manage the
additions and deletions to the group.
Delegating the management of a group allows the administrator to assign the process of main-
taining the membership of a group to someone who will probably be more familiar with the
changes needed to be made to the group. Usually someone like a department manager or a
human resources person is responsible for managing certain groups. In Step by Step 3.4, we
look at how to delegate the management of a group.
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STEP BY STEP
3.4 Delegating management of a group
1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, navigate to the Users OU located under the KansasCity OU in
the hierarchy.
2. In the right pane, right-click the entry for the Engineers group and select Properties.
4. In the Select User, Contact or Group dialog box, enter Bill Bailey, and then click OK.
5. This returns you to the Properties dialog box as shown in Figure 3.12. Select the Manager Can Update
Membership List check box.
6. Click OK to save.
After the administrator has created a group and assigned permissions to it, it can then be hand-
ed off to someone else to maintain the membership list. This can greatly cut down on the
administrator’s workload in larger companies where there are a lot of groups to maintain.
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Chapter Summary
This chapter was a continuation of Chapter 2 because we discussed more of the important
skills that you will use every day as a network administrator.
Here you learned about Windows Server 2003 group accounts. You discovered the two types
of groups—security and distribution—and the three possible scopes a group account in a
domain can have: domain local, Global, and Universal. Again, you started with Active
Directory Users and Computers and progressed to the command-line tools. Then you learned
about using ldifde to create groups.
In addition, you learned about the default groups in Windows Server 2003, and how and when
they are used. Finally, you learned how to delegate some of the management of groups to an
end user.
Key Terms
. AGDLP
. AGUDLP
. Domain functionality level
. Group accounts
. Group scope—domain local, Global, Universal
. Group types—distribution and security
. Nesting groups
1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers and navigate to the LanStudents OU.
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2. Create a global security group object called AdminStudents. Add the user accounts for those users
whose title is Network Administrator to the member list of the group.
3. Create a global security group object called AnalystStudents. Add the user accounts for those
users whose title is Systems Analyst to the member list of the group.
4. Create a global security group object called TrainerStudents. Add the user accounts for those users
whose title is Trainer to the member list of the group.
5. Create a universal security group object called AllStudents. Add the three group accounts we just
created to the member list of the group.
Exam Questions
1. You want to create a user account for Joan Myles using a command from the command prompt.
The account is to be a member of the Engineers group in the KansasCity container, disabled when
created, have Secur1ty as its password, and be placed in the
“ou=Users,ou=KansasCity,DC=70-290,DC=int” container. Which of the following tools
or combination of tools can do the job?
❍ C. dsadd
2. You are the junior administrator for a large engineering firm with several locations. You read in a
magazine that the best way to assign resources in a multidomain environment is to assign permis-
sions to a domain local group, then add the Global groups to the domain local group, and then add
the Global groups to a Universal group. However, the server won’t let you create a Universal group.
What is the most likely problem?
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3. You are planning for resource access in a multidomain forest. Some users from all domains will
need access to three continental headquarters domains. What is the recommended strategy for
providing access to these resources?
4. You are the network administrator for JJamis Inc. The network consists of a single Active Directory
domain named jjamis.com. The functional level of the domain is Windows 2000 native. Some net-
work servers run Windows 2000 Server, and others run Windows Server 2003. All users in your
accounting department are members of an existing global distribution group named G-Acct. You
create a new network share for the accounting users. You need to enable the members of G-Acct
to access the file share. What should you do?
5. You are the network administrator for JJamis Inc. The network consists of two Active Directory
domains. The functional level of both of the domains is Windows 2000 mixed. Some domain con-
trollers run Windows 2000 Server, and others run Windows Server 2003. You are trying to create a
Universal group to allow you to share a printer between the two domains, but when you try to cre-
ate a group, the option to create it as a Universal group is grayed out. What should you do?
❍ B. Assign permissions for the printer to a domain local group. Create a global group in
each domain. Add the desired users to the global group in each domain. Add both
global groups to the domain local group.
❍ C. Create a global group in each domain. Add the desired users to the global group in
each domain. Assign permissions for the printer to a global group. Add both user glob-
al groups to the printer global group.
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6. You are the network administrator for JJamis Inc. The network consists of a single Active Directory
domain named jjamis.com. The functional level of the domain is Windows 2000 mixed. Some
domain controllers run Windows 2000 Server, and others run Windows Server 2003. All users in
your accounting department are members of an existing global distribution group named G-Acct.
You create a new network share for the accounting users. You need to enable the members of G-
Acct to access the file share. What should you do?
7. You are the network administrator for LS Inc. The network consists of a single Active Directory
domain named lsinc.com. The functional level of the domain is Windows 2000 native. You’re get-
ting ready to go to an offsite meeting, but you need to create 20 accounts for new users that are
starting tomorrow morning. Your secretary is willing to enter the new accounts for you, but she
has only domain user access. What should you do? Choose the best answer.
❍ A. Add her to the Domain Administrators group and have her create the user accounts.
❍ B. Add her to the Domain Admins group and have her create the user accounts.
❍ C. Add her to the Account Operators group and have her create the user accounts.
❍ D. Add her to the Power Users group and have her create the user accounts.
8. You are the network administrator for LS Inc. The network consists of a single Active Directory
domain named lsinc.com. The functional level of the domain is Windows 2000 native. You’re in an
offsite meeting, and you get a call from your secretary. The new system administrator started
today. She created his account, he can log on, but he still can’t access some domain resources.
You gave her the permissions listed in the last question, and she successfully created his account.
What is the problem? Choose the best answer.
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8. E. There is not a Domain Administrators group, and the Power Users group is a local
group. It is assumed from the previous question that the secretary was added to the
Account Operators group. The Account Operators group cannot add or remove users
from the Domain Admins group, so the only relevant answer is E. See “Default
Groups.”
2. For information about LDAP, see RFCs 2251–2256. For information on LDIF,
see RFC 2849.
3. Matthews, Marty. Windows Server 2003: A Beginners Guide. McGraw-Hill, 2003.
ISBN 0072193093.
4. Minasi, Mark, et al. Mark Minasi’s Windows XP and Server 2003 Resource Kit. Sybex,
2003. ISBN 0782140807.
5. Minasi, Mark, et al. Mastering Windows Server 2003. Sybex, 2003. ISBN 0782141307.
6. Shapiro, Jeffrey, et al. Windows Server 2003 Bible. John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
ISBN 0764549375.
7. Windows Server 2003 Deployment Guide. Microsoft Corporation.